The 2017 Teacher-to-Teacher Garage Sale will be held on Thursday, August 17, in the cafeteria of Olde Orchard ES (800 McNaughten Rd.).The sale will begin at 9 a.m. and end at 2 p.m. The school will be open at 8 a.m. for set up. The materials to be sold are displayed on tables. The cost of the tables is $10 each. Money may be mailed to Jeanne Stoll,1680 Carriage Road, Powell, Ohio,43065. Please identify the activity on the check. The deadline for reserving a table or a group of tables is Friday, August 12. For questions, call Judy Valentine, 614-866-6333 or Marilyn Allen, 614-604-8744.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is the federal law that replaced No Child Left Behind and requires states to develop plans that address academic standards, assessments, school accountability and assistance for struggling schools.

The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) spent months gathering public input from more than 15,000 Ohioans before releasing its draft plan. Educators, parents, students and community members sent a clear message about how the state’s draft plan was not responsive to their concerns.

Released in early February, the state’s draft plan was open for public comment until March 6. Despite having a September deadline for submission, ODE had stated its intent to proceed with its submission of the plan in April—five months before the deadline.

State Superintendent Paolo DeMaria announced today that the Department “will delay the ESSA submission to the U.S. Department of Education to September.”

The New York Times reports that Congress has approved legislation “to repeal crucial regulations associated with the Every Student Succeeds Act, one of President Barack Obama’s final legislative achievements.” The Times focuses on the bipartisan effort to approve ESSA in 2015 and contrasts that bill with its predecessor, NCLB. The piece explains that it is “customary for federal agencies to issue detailed regulations on how new laws should be put into effect,” but notes that “some lawmakers from both parties saw” ED’s regulations “as unusually aggressive and far-reaching, and said they could subvert ESSA’s intent of re-establishing local control over education and decreasing the emphasis on testing.”

The NEA shared reports about President Trump’s recent address to Congress, in which he indicated that he “remains serious about his campaign-trail pledge to expand school choice,” urging Congress “to ‘pass an education bill that funds school choice for disadvantaged youth, including millions of African-American and Latino children. These families should be free to choose the public, private, charter, magnet, religious, or home school that is right for them.’” However, the piece reports, the Trump administration has yet to release any concrete details about its plans, and “it remains tough to say what other policy proposals might be on the president’s K-12 priority list.” The piece contrasts this with President Obama and President George W. Bush, “both of whom were knee-deep at this point in their presidencies in the education initiatives that would define their K-12 legacies.”

The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to overturn the regulations governing Obama’s teacher-preparation programs. Education Week quoted Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), the bill’s sponsor, saying, “This regulation actually makes the assumption that bureaucrats in Washington are competent to micromanage teacher-training programs in America.” Senate HELP ranking Democrat Patty Murray “said the rules would ensure that prospective teachers have more and better information about teacher-training programs” and “would protect teacher preparation from the as-yet unknown approach that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos would take.”

The House version with these changes passed last month and President Trump is expected to sign the bill. With the change, states will not be required to report on the “success rate of teacher-training programs, partly on the basis of graduates’ employment and evaluations of their work.” It also will mean that funding of federal Teach Grants to prospective teachers no longer will be tied to this reporting.

The National Council on Teacher Quality, which was involved in brokering these new rules, criticized the bill, with reports quoting: “Repealing these rules would tell the institutions that they will not be held accountable for how well they train teachers.”

CEA and CEA-R offer a number of opportunities for the children of members to earn scholarship dollars toward college. This year, the application deadline is Friday, April 7, at 4:30 p.m. The complete application must include the following:

1. A statement of the student’s personal philosophy and goals.

2. Two references: One from a current academic instructor with whom the student has studied during the past year, and one from someone other than a relative.

Scholarship guidelines are listed below:

• The parent or guardian member may request the application and guidelines from the CEA Office or download it from the CEA website.
• Applicants may be graduating high school seniors or students already enrolled in an undergraduate program at a college or university.
• Applicants must have a cumulative point hour of 2.5 or above which must be verified by an official high school or university transcript.
• Applicants must be full-time students while enrolled in college.
• Applicants must include a copy of the Student Aid Report from FASFA.
• Applicants must indicate all financial aid (other than student loans) which they expect to receive.

The Christa McAuliffe Memorial Scholarship, will be granted each year to a student majoring in education (unless no education applicants apply). This scholarship will be 1½ times the amount of any other scholarships awarded. To download the application, click here.

The Senate today approved Betsy DeVos as the next secretary of education when Vice President Pence cast the tie-breaking vote in her favor. The vote by a vice president to break a deadlock over a cabinet official was a first in U.S. history. Despite the opposition, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted to advance her nomination to the full Senate. The New York Times posted the following:

“The 51-to-50 vote elevates Ms. DeVos — a wealthy donor from Michigan who has devoted much of her life to expanding educational choice through charter schools and vouchers, but has limited experience with the public school system — to be steward of the nation’s schools. Two Republicans voted against Ms. DeVos’s confirmation, a sign that some members of President Trump’s party are willing to go against him, possibly foreshadowing difficulty on some of the president’s more contentious legislative priorities.”

The New York Times reports that Press Secretary Sean Spicer said he is “100 percent confident” that Betsy DeVos “will be the next secretary of education.” But media reporting shows that won’t happen without a fight. USA Today quoted Sen. Susan Collins as saying that DeVos’ “concentration on charter schools and vouchers … raises the question about whether or not she fully appreciates that the secretary of education’s primary focus must be on helping states and communities … strengthen our public schools.” The Wall Street Journal reported that Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she will vote against DeVos because thousands of her constituents in Alaska have contacted her to express concerns that are similar to her own. The Washington Times said that with the GOP holding a 52-48 majority in the Senate, votes against DeVos by Collins and Murkowski mean “it’s unlikely Mrs. DeVos will get more than 50 votes’ support.” That would mean that Vice President Pence could cast a tie-breaking vote.

Education Week released its 21st annual “Quality Counts” report on the state of the nation’s public schools. The conclusion? Stable achievement, with a grade of “C.”

Massachusetts was in first place for the third year in a row. Nevada is at the bottom. Ohio earned a grade of “C,” with 74.2 points, ranking 22nd,

Ohio exceeds the national average score in elementary reading, middle school math, and high school graduation. Our rank is 11th for integrating non-native English speaking children and 43rd for enrolling eligible children in kindergarten. Here are Ohio’s general scores:

The Columbus Education Association, in collaboration with the National Education Association, the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards and the Center for Teaching Quality, is seeking 30 CEA members to participate in the 2017 cohort of the Teacher Leadership Initiative (TLI).

The following is from a message posted on Nov. 9 by NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia:

“This morning we face the awesome responsibility of our profession: to comfort our children, to alleviate their fears, and to be a force for good in the world. We have an awesome responsibility to ensure that the worst of the campaign rhetoric does not become a reality—by standing up for what is right, by standing firm against values we know are wrong, and by standing firm in our efforts to build a better future.”

Reported by the NEA: A new report highlights concerns about charter schools and how they operate. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General believes the concerns center on the relationship between charter schools and the companies managing them. The Inspector General’s report looked at 33 charter schools in six states–California, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York. Here is the pattern that emerged:

1) financial risk of waste, fraud, and abuse; (2) insufficient accountability over federal funds, the result of charter school boards ceding fiscal authority to management companies; and, because of these issues, (3) lack of accountability for following federal requirements.

Over the last decade, the federal government has spent more than $3 billion for charter schools, including the $71 million released to Ohio.

According to the Ohio Department of Education, nearly one-third of the state’s current charter school sponsors are not meeting standards. Twenty-one organizations received “poor” ratings, while 39 others were rated “ineffective.” These latter groups are barred from sponsoring any additional schools until they create improvement plans and show they are addressing problems. Of 65 sponsors, only five were deemed “effective, ” while none were rated “exemplary.” The sponsors manage 29 charter schools, all of which received “poor” state ratings. They won’t have to close, but many will have to find new sponsors. This evaluation is the first after the state was cited for omitting the results of failing schools and the Ohio Legislature passed reform measures.

CEA President Tracey D. Johnson recently commented at a United Way of Central Ohio Meeting: “There is something happening in our communities where our children have so many needs. Our children are more than a test score. They are coming to us with social and emotional and mental needs that we’re not equipped to deal with.”

During the meeting on Sept. 15 , which she was attending as a trustee, Johnson was responding tearfully to the news that 13-year-old Tyre King, a student at Linden-McKinley STEM Academy, had been shot and killed by police the night before. He was running from officers who were investigating an armed-robbery report on the Near East Side when he pulled a BB gun from his waistband.

King is the 28th student in the district to die, and the 24th to die as the result of violence. CEA’s Social and Economic Justice Committee, led by Johnson, is working to help our families and their neighbors improve their lives. Stay tuned in to the CEA Voice for the work of this important committee. Get involved.

The Columbus School Board voted unanimously July 21 to ask voters this fall for a 6.92-mill tax increase to pay for the district’s general growth. The 17-percent property tax increase (a 14-percent increase for commercial property owners) would be spent over five years to add 325 staff—including 76 intervention specialists, 41 positions for expanding pre-kindergarten programs, 34 instructional assistants, 25 social workers, 16 positions in career-technical education, and 16 school nurses. Meanwhile, $125 million would pay for backlogged maintenance items such as roof and parking lot repairs, with $4.4 million set aside for annual maintenance. The board will now spend time reviewing a community panel’s facilities report, including its recommendation to keep all of the CCS high schools open. The tax would cost a homeowner an additional $242.20 for every $100,000 of valuation.

The Ohio Department of Education has opened an online survey through 5 p.m. on Aug. 1 for interested groups and individuals who wish to review and comment on the draft revisions to Ohio’s Learning Standards in English language arts and mathematics. The revision of Ohio’s Learning Standards in science, social studies and financial literacy will begin in late fall 2016. Register for updates.

Philly.com reported that Philadelphia city officials on Monday announced “nine schools that have been selected to receive extra money and support to create hubs for social, health, and other services in their neighborhoods as part of the new community schools initiative.” All nine schools were chosen “on the basis of poverty and risk factors in their neighborhoods”; five “are in police districts that had the highest number of shootings in 2014”; and four have more than 20 percent of their students learning to speak English. Mayor Jim Kenney “said the goal is to identify the specific needs of students, parents, and their communities, and then forge partnerships with private providers to offer the needed services in the schools.”

The Columbus Board of Education is working to shape a tax-increase rquest for the November ballot. Proposals set forth so far suggest an increase of between 17 and 22 percent. At issue is whether the tax should support operations, facilities maintenance as part of the district’s Master Plan, or both.

The district is poised to start work rebuilding 18 schools, and the central question is whether voters will support two separate issues.

The Denver Post reported on June 15 that Denver Public Schools officials say teachers and other school workers “are getting an average 2.61 percent raise in the upcoming school year.” The deal with the Denver Classroom Teachers Association “will add $7.6 million in teacher compensation for 2016-17 school year, with the possibility of $11.1 million if voters approve the district’s mill levy ballot proposal in November.”

Education Week summarizes two recent reports that said federal policymakers, in their regulation of teacher evaluation, have focused on “‘consequences’ before putting their emphasis on professional development, which had the effect of alienating teachers and making it harder for them to buy into the reforms,” while suggesting “that the new evaluation systems either hold a lot of promise.” Read more.

Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the former head of Chicago Public Schools, pleaded guilty to fraud on Tuesday, “admitting she steered $23 million in no-bid contracts to education firms for more than $2 million in kickbacks,” according to ABC World News. Associated Press reported that Byrd-Bennett “faced 20 fraud counts, each with a maximum 20-year prison term.” Meanwhile, the Chicago Tribune reported that “Byrd-Bennett faces up to about 7 1/2 years in prison” for a single fraud count that her plea agreement required. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Byrd-Bennett issued a “tearful apology” following her plea, in which she said Chicago’s children and educators “deserved much more, much more than I gave to them.” Byrd-Bennett served as CEO of the Cleveland Municipal School District from 1998 to 2006.

Education Week reported that “state and federal leaders, along with some advocates, are raising concerns that the state’s beleaguered charter sector may not deserve, or be ready for, such a windfall.” The article describes years of “scandal-ridden headlines” about Ohio’s charters, and notes that voices on both sides of the charter question “point to the Ohio charter sector as an example of the dysfunction that can arise from lax oversight.” The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the Democratic members of Ohio’s congressional delegation are asking Education Secretary Arne Duncan “pointed questions about the $71 million grant Ohio just received to expand charter schools in the state.” (NEA Opening Bell)

Ohio Department of Education officials applied to the U.S. Department of Education for a boost in charter school funding despite the schools’ poor performance. A number of news outlets reported that federal lawmakers are investigating the details of Ohio’s $71 million charter expansion application because State Superintendent Richard Ross apparently waited until the application was submitted before addressing evidence of charter-school score scrubbing. Meanwhile, the Ohio legislature has sent to Gov. Kasich a bill overhauling charter school regulation.

From the NEA’s “Morning Bell” newsletter: Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s surprise announcement on Friday that he is stepping down generated a large amount of media coverage over the weekend, with reports focusing on the abrupt nature of Duncan’s departure, on his legacies as education secretary, and on President Obama’s decision to tap John B. King Jr. to serve as acting secretary for the remainder of his term. The Associated Press reported that Duncan’s seven years in office were “marked by a willingness to plunge head-on into the heated debate about the government’s role in education.” The Hechinger Report offers insight into Duncan’s “aggressiveness and urgency” as he pushed for more preschool funding and for performance-based teacher evaluations. It notes, however, that the tide is turning toward stronger state control over public education.

The U.S. Department of Education will distribute $157 million to create and expand charter schools throughout the nation, despite criticisms that the agency has done a poor job of overseeing federal dollars sent to charter schools. Read more here.

In related news, the North Carolina Senate voted 25-19 to share with charter schools more sources of funding that were previously available only to public schools. Read about it here.

On Sept. 16, CEA celebrated the progress made through five years of funding from the National Education Association Foundation’s “Closing the Achievement Gaps” project. With more than $1.25 million in seed money to grow partnerships in the community, we initiated the pilot “100% Project” in the 14 schools of the Briggs and Linden-McKinley high school feeder patterns. With CCS and the United Way of Central Ohio, we brought teachers and families closer together; inspired more teachers to grow professionally; expanded teachers’ opportunities to collaborate; and significantly increased third-grade reading and math scores, gains on high school student performance and improvements in the graduation rate.

Your recent issue of the CEA Voice detailed the changes to the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES) that begin this year. We want to remind you of their importance.

The process of calculating and including value-added ratings for inclusion in the evaluation process is NEW. This year, ALL teachers must do two Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) at the beginning of the school year.

The Ohio Department of Education has also clarified that any employee who works with students 50 percent or more of the work day must be evaluated using OTES. That means that now, all tutors and part-time hourly teachers will be included in the teacher evaluation process.

Pertinent details of the CCS-adopted format for this school year include:

Half of the teacher rating is based on summative evaluation of performance, while the entire rating for Licensed Support Professionals (LSPs) will be based on performance.

Teachers will develop student growth measures for half of their rating. They will have either professional growth or improvement plans, which they will discuss with administrators at their scheduled conferences. Conferences should be held by Sept. 30, 2015.

Teachers will need to submit two (2) student learning objectives (SLOs) to the student learning objectives portal by Oct. 16, 2015, for approval by building assessment leaders.

Teachers new to CCS will be evaluated by their PAR Consulting Teachers. Teachers who have moved from an LSP position to a teaching position, or vice versa, will move through the full annual evaluation cycle in their new capacities.

The CCS ILEAD Portal will have up-to-date information regarding the CCS teacher evaluation process. If you have specific questions, contact Teri Mullins, CEA (253-4731) or Greg Mild, Office of Learning and Licensure (365-5039).

After failed negotiations, Seattle teachers formed a picket line today. The first day of school has been canceled for all of the district’s 53,000 students. The National Education Association shared that teachers are also going on strike in southeast Washington in Pasco while the state legislature struggles to increase funding for education due to a state supreme court order that sanctions the state $100,000 every day that the lawmakers failed to “adequately pay to educate the state’s 1 million school children.”

The Seattle School Board has voted to take legal action against the striking teachers. The strike in Seattle is the first in 30 years. Read more here.

Ohio legislators still have not enacted tougher charter school regulations.

OEA Vice President Scott DiMauro spoke publicly about this issue just as we were getting ready to welcome our students. House Bill 2 was tabled just before summer recess. The bill includes widespread reform for charter schools. It holds sponsors accountable for the schools’ successes and failures. It requires sponsors to monitor each school’s progress and provide technical assistance, including ensuring each has a plan to improve performance. Some legislators and officials want more fiscal transparency as well and some have called for key accounting changes to make it easier to monitor how the schools’ tax dollars are spent.

DiMauro said: “We’re troubled that the opportunity was lost to start a new school year with an improved system, and hope that members of the House will act swiftly to pass the Senate bill and resist pressure from some who profit from the current system to water down the legislation. Given the scandal around the Ohio Department of Education’s failure to enact charter sponsor ratings in a clean and lawful way, the urgency for action is greater than ever.”

The result: The U.S. Senate voted 81-17 on July 16 to pass the bipartisan Every Child Achieves Act.

Among other things, it provides more opportunity for all students, and reduces the high-stakes associated with standardized tests. The NEA declared that it “returns decision-making to the people who know the names of the students they educate — a paradigm shift from No Child Left Behind that will help restore the original focus on providing opportunities for all students, especially those most in need.”

The House of Representatives passed its own version (voting 218-213), the Student Success Act. The House tweaked it with help from educators, with an amendment to protect schools from being punished when parents choose to opt their children out of standardized tests.

Now members from the Senate and the House will meet in conference to hammer out a final bill that, if approved by both chambers, will then be sent to the White House. You can read more here and here.

Last week, the top official governing the state’s charter schools — School Choice Director David Hansen — resigned after admitting that he simply left out failing grades for some charter schools in their evaluations. He said that the “F” grades of those schools would “mask successes elsewhere.” Read some thoughts from a fellow educator on the Ohio Education Association’s blog.

Ohio will spend $23.6 million to replace PARCC with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) as its Common Core test provider. AIR will give Ohio’s math and English tests next year, along with the science and social studies tests AIR already gave this past year. Read more about AIR here.

The Ohio Education Association has expressed great disappointment in Governor Kasich’s decision to veto the Tangible Personal Property (TPP) provision. The TPP supplemental foundation aid in FY 2017 was intended to guarantee that districts do not receive less funding (state foundation aid and TPP replacement) than FY 2015 levels. This veto reduces approximately $78.3 million in FY 2017 for nearly 100 districts that are reliant on theses TPP replacement payments – most of them higher-wealth districts.

Legislators sent the governor a budget that included $955 million more in basic state aid for K-12 schools than the last two-year period. But Kasich’s pen stroke – that sealed vetoes on 44 items within the $71 billion budget – cut public school funding by a total of $84 million. Read more here. Read about the state budget here.

Summer break has started – but not at the Statehouse. As the budget deadline nears, the Ohio Senate Finance Committee adopted its own version of the House’s Bill 64, the state budget bill. This version includes fewer dollars for K-12 education than the House version On June 16, the Committee adopted an omnibus amendment with its suggested changes. After the Senate approves of the changes, a conference committee will begin its work to address differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. The OEA has compiled an analysis here.

In case you didn’t hear about it, Columbus has had good news about its reading scores: 87 percent of third-graders met the state’s reading requirements and will move on to the fourth grade, compared with about 74 percent last school year. Our strategies are working, and we are not about to stop now. Thirteen percent of our third-graders still are at risk of failing. An extra-special thanks to our social workers, who in recent days have begun going door to door in the district to let families know that their children get another chance to take the reading tests, in July.

Under Gov. Kasich’s budget plan, more than half of Ohio’s school districts would receive less funding than in the previous budget. The reason? Formulas that determine which districts are “needy,” and which have the “capacity” to generate more local revenues. Charter schools also receive state funding, and according to a recent study, that funding affects the allocation to school districts. OEA is tracking the developments. See the full story here.

The Ohio Senate’s Advisory Committee on Testing has laid out its plan to address complaints about the time spent on, stress imposed by, and evaluative use of Ohio’s plethora of standardized tests. CEA Governor Kim A. Jones is on the 28-member panel of school teachers, administrators and policy experts. The first meeting, held March 18, focused on the next steps: review of the PARCC and AIR tests, and a review of the testing schedules across the state. The committee recently sent a survey to principals, teachers and superintendent asking them to describe amounts of time spent on testing versus instruction, technology issues they have experienced with the tests, and for any other comments. Jones said she believes the committee will conduct a thorough review. Its report is due later this spring. Learn more here. The committee’s website includes a public comment area.

The annual CEA Staff Survey is administered prior to the Article 211 selective interview process in the spring of every year. The results are published prior to Round One postings so that our members can use the survey ratings to help guide any Article 211 decisions they might make. To access the results, go here.

On Feb. 2, Gov. John Kasich presented his proposed budget for 2016 and 2017. It sets limits on standardized testing time and eliminates the fall Third Grade Reading Guarantee. Kasich claims it will provide an additional $700 million in state foundation support to schools. However, the approximate $235 million cut in business’ tangible personal property tax reimbursements to school districts would result in a significantly lower amount. Read OEA’s analysis here.

CEA is offering a wonderful opportunity to learn how you can leverage your CEA membership by getting involved in the issues. We are holding an Organization and Activist Training session from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, March 7 at the OEA headquarters, 225 E. Broad St. There are so many issues that impact our abilities to make a difference on the job: election results, poverty, the availability of mental health resources for our students, OTES, SLOs, PARCC – and so much more. This event includes CEUs. Register at http://bit.ly/orgactivist.

The deadline to apply to become a PAR Consulting Teacher has been extended to Friday, February 27, 2015 at 5pm. Eligible teachers must hold a bachelor’s degree in education, an active teaching license, and a minimum of five years of teaching experience, three of them with CCS. Submit a letter of interest, resume and three reference letters (from your current building administrator, a current CEA member and another professional) to CEA President Tracey D. Johnson, 929 E. Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43205.

To download a list of the principal placements for Article 211, click here.

Please note: Article 211 of the Master Agreement permits members to request to staff reduce themselves from schools, programs or buildings for health or safety reasons or for philosophical differences (i.e. instructional program, teaching assignment, etc.). The reduction must be mutually agreed upon by Human Resources and CEA.

If you want to make a request to be staff-reduced from your current teaching assignment based on philosophical differences, you must write a letter that clearly states the reason(s) for your request. Letters should be sent to Victoria Frye, Human Resources, Columbus City Schools, 270 E. State St., Columbus, OH 43215. You should hand deliver the letter and ask for a copy to be time stamped for your records. The deadline to request to be staff reduced is Friday, Feb. 13 at 5 p.m. Emails and faxes will not be accepted. You will not be allowed to make requests for staff-reduction status after Friday, Feb. 13.

CCS is looking for Consulting Teachers (CTs) to join the Peer Assistance & Review (PAR) program. PAR CTs provide consulting, coaching and support services to intern and intervention teachers who enter the PAR program. Eligible teachers must have five years of teaching experience, including three in CCS.

PAR is a nationally recognized program that has become a model throughout the country. CTs also serve as evaluators for the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System. Submit a letter of interest, a resume and three reference letters (from your principal, a current CEA member and one other professional) to CEA President Tracey D. Johnson, CEA, 929 E. Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43205.

Under the gray skies of a cold January afternoon in Franklinton, a new chapter was started in the book of Columbus labor history. On Thursday, Jan. 22, three charter school teachers at the Franklinton Preparatory Academy (FPA), housed at the former CCS Chicago Avenue Elementary School, stood up for their students, their families and their profession. They read a letter to Marty Griffith, the school’s founder, principal and CEO, informing him of their intent to make FPA the first unionized charter school in Central Ohio.

FPA teachers Geral Leka, Ryan Marchese and Julie Pfeifer took turns reading the in the hallway of the school. The teachers were joined by a delegation of supporters, including OEA Vice President Scott DiMauro, OEA Organizers Jeremy Bainman and Matt Ides, Central Ohio Labor Council Executive Director Walt Workman, CEA Vice President Phil Hayes and other community and labor members.

These three teachers spoke out because they know that their teaching conditions are their students’ learning conditions. Specifically, the teachers addressed the need for a comprehensive discipline policy, adequate educational resources and the respect they deserve as education professionals.

“Educational resources are an important part of every school,” read FPA teacher Julie Pfiefer, “and in order to do the best job possible for our students and administrators we need certain items. These items include textbooks, manipulatives, a fully stocked school library with both fiction and non-fiction books, and videos, just to name a few.

FPA occupies several floors of a former district school– Chicago Avenue ES. CCS opened Chicago Avenue ES in 1897 and closed it 1982, along with Central HS. FPA opened in August of 2013, under the sponsorship of St. Aloysius. Charter School Specialists LLC, a for-profit consulting and operations firm that contracts with numerous charter schools is a partner with FPA.

The National Labor Relations Board will supervise an election to certify the FPAEA as the teachers’ exclusive bargaining representative in about a month and a half. You can read the full letter from the FPA teachers regarding their intent to unionize here.

You can also email your request using your CCS email to: article211@columbus.k12.oh.us. Include in the subject line “Voluntary Staff Reduction Request” followed by your first and last name and employee ID number.

Members who submit a request by January 12, 2018 will be notified by HR later in January of their decision. Submitting a request does not mean it will be automatically granted. No requests will be considered after the deadline.